A Couple Days With Bill And Pat (Mobetah)

The highlight of our trip up the ICW in Florida was stopping in Palm Coast to visit Bill and Pat (Mobetah). We last saw Bill and Pat in the spring of 2011. We took an inland trip to Antigua and Lago Attilan in Guatemala with them and had a wonderful time. Some of fondest memories were made with Bill and Pat as we also did an inland trip to Copan, Honduras with them in 2010 amongst other adventures.  At one time they directed readers of their blog to ours if they wanted to know what they were doing. We missed seeing them when we returned to Guatemala in the fall of 2011 before we departed for Panama. They would usually return at about the same time, but they were delayed because they were trying to buy a condominium in Palm Coast. Bill had investigated foreclosure sales of condominiums and had decided the time was probably about right to jump into the market. It was a time consuming process but having now seen their home, it was no doubt well worth the effort. We always planned to visit Bill and Pat, one way or the other. We thought we would be going up the coast on the outside and then once Ariel was secure in a marina we would drive over to see them. As it happens we could not go outside so the ICW took us right to their condominium which is just a few steps from the ICW.  It is a great spot for watching boat traffic.

Pat and Bill

They had arranged for us to keep our boat in a condominium marina (free), while we stayed at their home. We could only stay a couple days as we were already running a little behind schedule, and Bill and Pat made it hard to leave. We really enjoyed our visit. They have become full fledged dirt dwellers, but they are working very hard to bring some of the social aspects of the cruising life to their community. We expect and hope to see Bill and Pat before we head further north. Thanks for being wonderful friends (Bill and Pat) and thank you for opening your wonderful home to us.

We are now at Fleming Island Marina, on the St. Johns river and near Orange Park, Florida. We were last on the St. Johns our first year cruising. Linda's sister Dale and her husband Steve live further up the St. Johns near Palatka. A bridge just above Green Cove Springs prevents us from taking Ariel to their house. We are registered here for a month. During that time our son and his family will be vacationing in Ormond Beach at our timeshare which we bought in 1982 and which is still getting lots of use after all these years. Ormond Beach is a short drive so we look forward to seeing them. We will of course spend a lot of time with Steve and Dale, but Linda 's other sisters, Lois and Darlene are coming to Florida while we are here so all the girls will be together. Darlene's husband John very recently passed, so it is fitting that they will spend some time together. When not otherwise engaged we are doing some serious work on Ariel. Three years in the subtropics and tropics was very hard on the sun exposed surfaces, plus we have a list of maintenance items to address. Hopefully everything will be working when we leave Florida and Ariel will look much better.